ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

A.V. GALLAGHER

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP)—A judge Wednesday upheld a law restricting Medicaid payments for abortions, ordering the state to halt funding for the procedure for poor women, except in limited cases.

Circuit Judge John Hey ruled that a provision of a $1.14 billion Medicaid funding bill that severely restricts state funding of abortions is ‘‘constitutional and enforceable.’‘

‘‘While an indigent woman may have a right to abort her fetus, she does not have the corresponding right to have that decision publicly funded,’‘ Hey wrote.

It will take 10 days to two weeks for the state Department of Health and Human Resources to notify doctors and Medicaid facilities of the change, said agency spokeswoman Ann Garcelon.

As a result, abortion funding can’t cease immediately, despite Hey’s order, Garcelon said.

Roger Forman, lawyer for the Women’s Health Center of West Virginia Inc., said he would petition the state Supreme Court on Wednesday to put Hey’s order on hold while the ruling is appealed. He said the appeal might not be filed until next week.

Deputy Attorney General Deborah McHenry said the state also plans to appeal. She said the state has to provide abortions to poor women because its constitution guarantees ‘‘substantive rights to safety.’‘

The law bars Medicaid-funded abortions unless two doctors say the abortion is necessary, the fetus is found to be in danger of dying or the woman is the victim of rape or incest.

Three women’s groups, the Women’s Health Center, West Virginia Free and the National Organization for Women, sued the Department of Health and Human Resources over the abortion restrictions.

They said the law discriminated against poor women who can’t pay for abortions themselves because other women who can afford abortions are still able to have them.

‘‘We’re very disappointed in the ruling,’‘ said Barbara Evans Fleischauer, president of NOW’s West Virginia chapter and a lawyer for the chapter.

West Virginians for Life Inc., an anti-abortion group that helped defend the law, said the measure doesn’t ban abortions but only the state funding of abortions.

‘‘We are so grateful,’‘ said Becky Romero, vice president of West Virginia for Life. ‘‘We were always very hopeful because we had an excellent case in the court. Thirty-seven other states do not fund abortions on demand with their tax dollars.’‘

Gov. Gaston Caperton signed the Medicaid law on June 4, although he opposed the abortion restrictions, saying he didn’t want to threaten medical coverage for 350,000 poor West Virginians covered by the program.

He then filed suit seeking to overturn the abortion provision on grounds similar to those cited by the women’s groups. But Hey ruled that Caperton could not challenge the provision on constitutional grounds since he had signed the law.

‘‘I still think poor women should not be discriminated against,’‘ Caperton said Wednesday. But he said the state will abide by Hey’s ruling.